Dear Minister Michel,

Congratulations on your appointment as Canada’s Minister of Health!

I’m sure that during the campaign, you had the opportunity to meet many incredible people. I feel truly fortunate to have met you by chance outside your campaign office. In our brief conversation, we spoke about the stigma surrounding smoking and nicotine use, and we both recognized the critical importance of the role of Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

With Prime Minister Carney choosing a smaller cabinet, I was especially pleased to see you appointed as Minister of Health. Your perspective and compassion are clearly well suited to the role.

As I mentioned when we met, I’ve been actively advocating for accessible, affordable, and widely available safer nicotine alternatives for Canadians who smoke.

My background is in fighting for the rights of Canadians who vape and educating our elected representatives on tobacco harm reduction. My focus now is on safer nicotine products. Science has caught up with tobacco harm reduction. We are at a time in history where people who smoke have a choice.

I’ve spoken with thousands of Canadians who vape or smoke, and I know their stories well. Many have faced stigma for their addiction. They have been shamed for their choices and taxed to the point where accessing safer nicotine products becomes out of reach. It’s especially frustrating to receive messages from Canadians in some of the most remote parts of the country who are committed to tobacco harm reductio yet find it nearly impossible to access regulated products due to cost and limited availability. This must change. And that change is in your hands.

I am confident that you will be a Health Minister for ALL Canadians, even the ones who smoke and who vape and who use nicotine in whatever way they chose to.

I would be happy to speak with you further about this important issue and share my long-term goal: that all regulated nicotine products be regulated under a Safer Nicotine Act. Health Canada has made meaningful progress over the years in providing more accurate information about vaping and nicotine to Canadians, but there is still much work to be done. We should look to countries like Sweden and New Zealand as examples. They have significantly reduced cigarette use by embracing safer nicotine alternatives and regulating them thoughtfully.

Our common enemy is cigarettes. If we can reduce smoking rates by convincing Canadians who smoke to choose a less harmful nicotine alternative, imagine pain we will erase, imagine the costs to the Canadian health care system we will reduce, imagine the number of lives we will save.

I look forward to meeting you once again.

Maria

P.S. I’ll be in Ottawa and would love to see you or a member of your team! Please feel free to stop by our information booth on Wednesday, May 28, between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. We’ll be set up at the corner of Metcalfe and Wellington, directly across from Parliament Hill at 90 Wellington Street. I hope you can drop by.